March 17-18 - Globe, AZ

The Globe City Park isn’t anything to write home about so I won’t say more about that, except they have a very clean laundry room. 

This area is also a huge copper mining plant. 

This “campground” is in the historic part of town. It’s also close to the Tonto National Monument which is where we drove today to get my stamp. Loved the park. It is a dog friendly park, so Banjo and Lenny were able to hike to the ruins and became Bark Tanger dogs. 

Tonto National Monument preserves the homes of the Salado Culture from 1250-1450. The people were farmers, foragers and craftsmen. As you can see we are in saguaro country. 

After visiting the ruins, we drove to Roosevelt Lake to check out the camping for the next time we are here. We really enjoy this part of Arizona. 

After lunch we decided to see what Stairazona was. The town of Globe is built on hillsides. The steep streets put Bellefonte streets to shame. The Stairazona are sets of stairs that take you through some of the historic parts of the town. Their local artists made it fun to climb all those stairs. 

With the walk to the ruins and these stairs, we got our 10,000 steps in today. 

Sunset was pretty. 

Next up is a drive to Quartzsite, AZ to watch the NCAA Wrestling Championships. 

Marc 16 - Salinas Pueblo Mission and Socorro, NM

On 2-lane roads, we traveled to tiger Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument for a stamp in my Passport book 

At its peak, the Pueblo was home to 1,500-3,000 eastern Tompiro/Jumano people. Plains people directly interacted and traded with the Pueblo people. It was a hub of cultures gathering in those times. 

Back on the road to our Box Canyon boondocking site in Socorro. A walk around, we see lots of cholla cacti. 

From a top the hill, can you see Belle?  


Views are beautiful here. 

Thursday, March 28 - Quartzsite, AZ

We finally found warmth - 81 degrees. We all too off layers … a lot

We are boondocking just outside of Quartzsite, a little town built around snow birds. RV parks everywhere, some sketchier than others.  Went in town for groceries. Just a small market. Not quite what I thought it would be. Where we are tucked in, it’s quiet. 

The ocotillo is beginning to bloom. Not too many saguaros around where we are. 

Since it got warm, here’s how Lenny travels down the road. Usually he is covered with a blanket. We’re lucky that they can sleep at night as much as they sleep through the day. 

These bright yellow flowers greet us. They look like some sort of daisy. 

As soon as we got set up, we sat outside to soak up some rays. 

Then we took a walk. These purple flowers were blooming all over. 

A few saguaros 

Banjo is with us. Just couldn’t get him in the photo. 

A little sunset … good night. 

Wednesday, March 27 - Lordsburg, NM

Tonight we will stay in another Harvest Host - Shakespeare Ghost town, just south of Lordsburg, NM

Shakespeare Ghost Town is a mining town dating back to the 1850s when the first building was put here by the army.

The Hill Family has preserved the town since the 1930. They give tours of the buildings and talk about when Billy the Kid and others walked the streets. 

We took a hike among the cacti to stretch our legs. Much warmer here, high 50s. The desert cools down at night to about 35 degrees. A shot of the Ghost Town from our hike atop a hill. 

The pear cacti grow big here. 

A hillside of pear cacti. 

Yucca plants also grow tall. Lenny thinks there’s a good smell here. 

March 27 - Organ Pipe, Mexico Border and Ajo

Another blue sky, high 60s day. After taking the boys on a 4 mile walk where we were camped, we visited Cabeza Prieta National Refuge in Ajo. We got some information on a scenic drive through Organ Pipe National Monument. 

The roadside wildflowers were busting out their blooms as we drove along. 

Look at the size of this saguaro. He’s an oldie for sure. Bill read that the ones have arms got them because there was more water available. 

The Ocotillo are just beginning to bloom. I couldn’t capture that very well. The flowers start to come out on the tops of the stems. 

The last leg of our trip took us along the Mexico Border and the wall. For about 20 miles we were about 50 feet from the border. 

March 26 - Organ Pipe National Forest, Ano, AZ

Celebrating Bill’s birthday as we make our way to our last Arizona stop in Organ Pipe National Monument near Ajo. Organ Pipe National Monument is an International Biosphere Reserve in the Sonoran Desert. It was established to preserve the ecological wonders of the country. 

A scenic drive across the desert to get here. Large Saguaro cacti all along the way with some chollas and wildflowers. . 

Hills with forests of saguaro. We haven’t seen that many saguaro in one spot before. 

When we arrived at the BLM land where we would boondock for the next 2 nights, we had saguaro right out our front door. 

Organ Pipe Monument covers 330,000 acres. From our camping spot, it was 23 miles to the visitor center with the desert scenery all along the drive. 

We hiked among all the desert plants. 

This is a huge example of an Organ Pipe cactus. Not sure I had ever seen one before. 

Back at the camper, Bill grilled his birthday dinner - steak and potatoes. 

March 27 - into the park we go for more cacti viewing.